How Small Acts of Kindness Renew Faith in Humanity

How to Properly Handle Other People’s Garbage

The other day I watched my neighbor run up the street dragging her garbage can behind her.

The driver of the garbage truck that had been speeding away could have pretended not to have seen her.

But he stopped and then backed up a fair distance to meet her and empty her can.

It renewed my faith in humanity.

It also reminded me that sometimes the kindest thing we can do is to meet someone and their garbage where they are.

That we stop instead of rushing off and pretending we didn’t see the pain.

Just the act of bearing witness, to really be, to listen and take in the other person, lightens their load.

On a related note, I have a thing for cool die-cast cars and trucks. This is my German garbage truck. The bin unhooks and opens, and the back tilts up, letting the garbage slide out.

Many a little kid has benefited from my delight as I’ve given them away, but I’ve kept this one.

The truck reminds me that with the right tools life’s “garbage” can be disposed of with elegance, engineering, and efficiency (how’s that for alliteration?).